New York Liberty representatives Han Xu and AD are back on American hardwood after a two-year absence, resuming their unlikely yet cherished friendship.
BROOKLYN-Much like the world around them, the New York Liberty are slowly starting to resemble the way they looked back in 2019.
Granted, everyone in the Liberty organization certainly hopes that the team will beat out the 10 wins earned in the second and final season stationed at Westchester County Center, whose chapters are left in the past as the team prepares to play its second full-time season at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But two of the fan favorites that graced White Plains’ floors are back in action after respective two-year absences.
Their stage is bigger, their list of shared teammates has dwindled to one (Rebecca Allen, who has yet to report to the 2022 proceedings), and even the team’s colors have taken on a new brand of dominance, with the black shades of their new NBA brothers replacing the blue and orange favored by their estranged Madison Square Graden siblings. But nothing’s going to change the admiration that Han Xu and Asia Durr (henceforth referred to as AD) share.
“Everybody is so interested in our friendship, because it’s a very precious friendship,” Han said through translator Cindy Chen. “We have our own promises. For example, (AD) promised me that (they’re) going to learn Chinese for easier communications. I’m going to take them to a lot of unique Chinese restaurants to try the food that they’ve never tried before.”
AD and Han each joined the Liberty during the 2019 WNBA Draft, their respective selections making metropolitan history. The former, a guard out of Louisville, was the highest selection in Liberty history at second overall (before the Liberty won the Sabrina Ionescu sweepstakes a year later) while Han, standing at 6-foot-10 inches, was the league’s first Chinese-born draftee since Zheng Haixia in the inaugural edition in 1997.
Situated over 7,000 miles from her home in the province of Hebei, there was an understandable learning curve upon Han’s arrival. Her search for guidance was anything but lengthy, as it required a mere glimpse over her right shoulder.
There, Han and AD formed a rookie corner, the latter often simplifying questions when a translator wasn’t available, one of the first instances of a Liberty representative doubling as an interpreter in their United Nations of hardwood, which has also welcomed de facto delegates from Australia, Germany, France Italy, Mali, and Sweden over the past five years.
With the team working through an uncertain future in White Plains, their relationship became a rare anchor through tumultuous times, even if the setting was a cramped locker room in the Art Deco relic. Each brought their own brand of comfort through antics and journeys that wowed the fans that made the trip. But their most vital impact came through each other.
If the Liberty’s ongoing reclamation project keeps trending in the right direction thanks to AD and Han’s efforts, a fateful collection of heat packs, perhaps still lying in Westchester’s locker room, could prove to be a turning point in team history.
“We came in together, started with the heat packs, making sure to vets had their heat packs, I think we just embraced that role, and just tried to have fun,” AD recalled. “Picking back up here in 2022, it’s kind of like we didn’t miss a beat. It’s just very, very natural and it flows.”
The latest steps of those personal journeys have reflected the Liberty’s pre-Brooklyn themes of being besieged by calamities beyond their control, namely the COVID-19 pandemic. Han was at least able to prepare for her eventual return to metropolitan endeavors, engaging in hardwood affairs that included an appearance on China’s women’s basketball group at last summer’s Olympics in Tokyo (going undefeated in group play before placing fifth).
Fear was never an issue with Han, who once brushed off defensive encounters with interior threat Liz Cambage by simply reminding reporters that “(she’s) tall too”, but time away from the American game has offered her a chance to develop a new brand of confidence, present through the emergence of an assertive mid-range game, which has excited incoming Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello, who has emphasized the importance of “giving her the ball and utilizing her 6’10 frame”.
AD, on the other hand, was one of several athletes forced to deal with “long COVID”, a struggle documented on HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel”. They lost 32 pounds in the ordeal and they openly admitted to “Real Sports” correspondent Mary Carillo that the idea of never playing basketball again “definitely crossed (their) mind plenty of times”.
Once well enough to hit the hardwood, AD worked with the Pure Performance Basketball training group, headed by National Christian College Athletic Association national champion Chris Palmer, to prepare for their return to the W. Not only did they embark on a goal of getting AD back to a performative level but they also strained to make sure that they found a safe balance of work that prevented overuse and kept any lingering effects from the COVID bout at bay.
With Palmer’s help and support (in addition to an expansive family that includes fiancé Taylor Johnson, parents Audrey and Terry, and siblings Christian and Genesis), AD believes they’ve found that intended balance that will help the Liberty take the next step of a rise from the ashes of Westchester up the WNBA standings.
“COVID really took me out. Each step is a practice for me,” AD said. Those steps include embracing a Brondello mandate of defense, one that clashes with their previously established skills and New York role as an offensive facilitator.
“I’m excited for this journey. I take pride in it because I want to be, when it’s said and done, one of the best defenders to play,” they said. “I’m not just scoring or passing and stuff like that. I want to be able to stop the ball and help my teammates out. It’s something that I take pride in and I’m willing to grow and learn as well.”
The aura around the Liberty is undoubtedly one of excitement: the team is coming off its first playoff berth since 2017, brought in championship trophy hoisters like Brondello and Stefanie Dolson, and is working with some of the sport’s most exciting new household names, including Ionescu and Betnijah Laney. Yet, it could be an intimidating setting for players like AD and Han, especially when trying to find their professional way back.
Their friendship, perhaps unlikely by conventional standards, has helped remove such an issue from the Liberty’s growing list of questions as opening night looms. AD made it clear that while they’re more than capable of having fun with their draft classmate, a crucial part of their friendship has been the fact that they’ve struggled…and are set to pick themselves back up…together.
“We’ve struggled together. We figured it out together. We’ve had great days together. We’ve just weathered through the storm,” AD told Baseline. “We’ve how to embrace challenges and learn how to see the positive side of things that didn’t start out so great. It’s so great to be with Hanny and be reconnected with her. I’m so happy she’s here.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
Baseline Sports NY is on Twitter @Baseline_NY
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